“Home, she told herself, could be a place, a person, a feeling; at times, a profession, the end result of a long pursuit. A fluid thing, for sure, but precious. She did care about Nothar Park. But wasn’t the whole point of life to turn each loss into a win?”
— Cleyvis Natera, Neruda on the Park
Hello Family and welcome new subscribers!
Meet Cleyvis Natera of the Lit 16. She is the author of the novel, Neruda on the Park, first published in May 2022 by Ballantine/Penguin Random House. She studied psychology, literature, and creative writing at Skidmore College and holds a Master of Fine Arts from New York University. Her fiction, essays, and criticisms have appeared in The New York Times Book Review, URSA, TIME, Alien Nation: 36 True Tales of Immigration, Gagosian Quarterly, The Brooklyn Rail, The Rumpus, The Washington Post, Memorious, The Kenyon Review, Aster(ix) and Kweli Journal, among other publications. She teaches creative writing to undergraduates at Barnard College as well as in the M.F.A. Programs at the City College of New York, St. Joseph's College of Brooklyn, and Antioch University in Los Angeles. Cleyvis lives in Montclair, N.J. with her husband and two young children.
Here is what I had to say about Cleyvis’s book:
“What Cleyvis Natera has given us with Neruda on the Park is a book so honest, so implicating, so liberating that is at once beautiful and terrifying. She gives us the blueprint for how to turn the nightmare of our existence into a more welcome dream if we could have have the courage to become our best, most humane selves; if, like Eusebia, we could unfurl, confront, heal, and be free of the pathologies and traumas that weigh us down, so that we, too, could float on impossibly blue waters, which is our birthright. Neruda on the Park is a loud triumph that caresses like a whisper.”
Be sure to tune in to see Cleyvis, and three other members of the Lit 16, read and converse at:
The Lit 16: Third-Quarter Fire Circle Virtual Readings
Mahogany Books
Wednesday, April 19, 2023
7 p.m. ET
To register, please visit: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/lit16
You can purchase copies of Neruda on the Park at the Mahogany Books Lit 16 site. Follow Cleyvis on Instagram and Twitter.
We hope to see you there. And thank you for your support!
Blessings upon blessings,
Robert
What is the Lit 16?
In the spirit of community over competition, the Lit 16 reading series is how Deesha Philyaw, Kiese Laymon, and I decided to use our platforms to shine a light on emerging writers whose art has impacted, inspired, and moved us in ways that we wanted to honor and share with you.
We could have easily created a Lit 64; there are so many fantastic recent works that we adore. Unfortunately, for many reasons, we are unable to accommodate that large of a scope. However, we do encourage all of our artistic peers to advance toward the directive set forth by the iconic and legendary Ancestor Toni Morrison: “If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.”
Be sure to follow the #Lit16 hashtag on social media and subscribe to Witness to stay up-to-date on upcoming Lit 16 events. Thank you so very much for joining us in celebration.
The Lit 16: Honoring sixteen emerging literary artists whose works are changing the game.
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